The Kuro Neko
by WasRobinHood
Summary: Mikan finds a cat. Natsume isn't sure how to feel about that.
1. Chapter One: A New Presence

**1.**

Mikan blinked down at the dark alleyway, staring at a pair of glaring red eyes that stared back at her.

It was raining that night, unfortunately for the umbrella-lacking brunette. And quite heavily, too, heavier than when it started.

She cursed herself for not passing at the chance to share one with Hotaru. Her best friend was off to some invention contest where she'll no doubt win more yen to feed her greedy self, and Mikan didn't want to bother her just before it.

"Are you sure about that?" she vaguely remembered Hotaru asking, looking at her with a skeptical eyebrow raised. She was aware as to why her idiotic best friend was doing this, she was a very easy person to predict.

Mikan then definitely assured her that it'll be fine and she needs to run off for the contest, but not before flashing her one of her warm smiles before she left.

"Dammit," she cursed once again as she ran across the excessively wet streets of Tokyo, gritting her teeth angrily at herself. Sometimes, Mikan thinks that she might be _too_ nice for her own good.

… _Is that even possible?_ She thought this with an awestruck expression.

Luckily, she had wore her blazer that day as it was quite cold, and she was currently using it as her own makeshift umbrella - not her idea but Hotaru's, thank goodness for her. Her shoes were starting to dampen as well, as she ran through puddles, and she grimaced at the feeling of her wet and muddy socks. _This'll be a right pain to clean_ , she chided to herself softly.

It was then when she heard a sudden yelp from the alleyway, causing her to stop her running thoughts.

"W-What the-…?" she muttered, halting in her quick steps and staring back at the alleyway with wide eyes. She could feel her arms starting to strain for holding up her blazer for way too long, and it was getting way too damp, but curiosity sparked inside her and bled through, controlling her following movements.

She approached the opening of the alleyway uneasily, her steps faltering each time. "Hello?" she called, her voice coming out weak. No one responded back, except for a few strange looks from by-passers. She ignored them and strained her ears for more sound. Some... strange shuffling, and pained mewling.

This spiked her interest. _Mewling_?

Feeling a sudden boost of confidence, she took some more steps into the dirty alleyway. She felt her nose wrinkle at the smell of the dumpster right beside her, but she was quick to ignore it, instead focusing on a box just at the end of the darkness.

She frowned at this, for more reasons than one. Shouldn't it be lighter than that? She stared up a bit and squinted through the heavy clouds. Indeed, it was already passing dusk, and the moon was starting to appear more vivid on the purple-hued sky. At this, she knew she was already worrying her mother for being so late to go home, but that did not falter her task at hand.

However, the rain was starting to clear up much more now, which caused her to sigh in relief and drop her arms, letting her now dirtied blazer hang lamely at her side.

A sudden meow snapped her head up again towards the end of the alleyway, reminding her to focus.

She bit her lip nervously. Now, how was she supposed to do this…? She looked down at her dirtied shoes as she thought furiously, the expression on her face showing this, when her wandering mind noticed the blazer hanging to her right.

Mikan blinked, staring down at the damp blazer with wide eyes, letting her mind run free one more time. If you were a bystander, you could practically see the lit light bulb that popped above her head.

 _Mom's gonna kill me for this_ , she thought grimly with a sigh, and she walked towards the source of the sudden scuffling and hissing.

/

"Mikan?!" Yuka Sakura-Yukihira gasped upon seeing the current state of her daughter from the doorway, the plate in her hands almost slipping.

Mikan cringed as she took one step into her home, and smiled at her flabbergasted mother sheepishly. "It was raining…" she explained to her with a hesitant grin.

In her arms was a bundle of cloth, which was suspiciously writhing and moving around aggressively. Upon closer inspection, it was later seen to be her school blazer, the badge with the letterings 'Alice Academy' etched on it gracefully.

Immediately, Yuka rushed to her daughter, hurriedly leaning down a bit and placing a hand on her forehead to check for a fever. Mikan pushed her hand away, assuring that she was fine. This didn't stop the doting mother, however.

"Where were you?!" The words came falling out of her mother's mouth like a spewing waterfall. "You were gone for an hour! When you were late for 20 minutes, I immediately noticed and I started worrying for you dreadfully, thinking you must've hurt yourself or got yourself wet somehow. I started thinking, 'Oh, she has Hotaru, she'll be fine then,' but then I contacted her and she told me you went home on your own and that only made my worrying worse, but then—"

"Mom," Mikan giggled out with an amused smile, but genuinely glad that her mother cared so much for her. "Really, I'm fine!" She spread her free arm to prove her point. Seeing her still troubled face, she explained a bit further. "I just got caught up in the rain, is all." She paused. "And I sort of brought something home."

Like it was a signal for him to come out, the ticked off black kitten in her arms finally managed to dig his way out of the annoying piles of cloth that surrounded him. This tired him out, however, and he gave out a big yawn, letting out a strange sound before licking himself clean.

Yuka stared down at the cat with wide eyes.

"It's… It's a cat," she observed lamely, her mind running wild. Mikan grinned at her reaction, then deciding on elaborating.

"I found him all cooped up and lost at this alleyway," she told her and looked down at the kitten fondly. "He was injured and shivering from the rain, so I couldn't help but take care of him for a bit. I went to Hotaru's house afterwards, and thankfully her brother was there, and he patched him up for me."

Yuka furrowed her eyebrows, still feeling a bit skeptical. "And that's why you were gone for nearly an hour?"

Mikan shrugged. She was telling the truth. "Well, yeah! That's it, really." She let a small smile grace her features. "To be honest, trying to get him from the box took longer than the visit," she admitted, snickering at herself. She could not help herself that she was so slow to do her own things.

Her mother frowned, looking at her daughter with unsure eyes. "And you're gonna take care of him?"

That got Mikan silent.

"…I'm… still not sure," she mumbled, her mood suddenly dropping. "I mean, I want to, honestly. But I'm not sure if you'd allow me!" She frowned. "We never really had a proper pet, right? Uncle's pet fish was an exception because we just had to take care of it for two days."

Yuka pursed her lips. She didn't doubt her daughter's will to do what she wanted, but she did doubt her abilities to continue this will. Her personality did match her father's, after all. "Do you really want to take care of this little guy? We'd have to buy him things that he needs. It would be a handful, too - you'd have to feed, bathe, and all the other things to him every day."

After a few seconds of silence, Mikan nodded firmly. She was sure of that.

/

In the particular classroom of Class 8-B, happy squeals erupted. Students in a five feet radius from the door sweatdropped.

"Oh, my gosh, he's so CUUUTEE!"

"AHH, _CUTEEEE!_ " The surrounding group of girls agreed with this with more squeals. Mikan grinned sheepishly with her new kitten in her hands, unsure on how to tame this sudden crowd. She remembered how Natsume and Ruka-pyon had to deal with this sort of thing every school day and couldn't help but suddenly pity them.

"Can I pet him?! _Hey_ -! OW, he just scratched me!"

Mikan's eyes widened. "Ah, I'm so sorry!" She turned to her new kitten with scolding eyes. " _Bad_."

The kitten just stared back, seemingly glaring back at her with those red eyes before shutting them once again and curling around to sleep. Mikan frowned. This behavior ticked her off, and she couldn't help but be reminded of a certain someone because of it.

Hotaru glared at the crowd silently from above her new invention. Being slightly allergic to cats, this new presence annoyed her immensely, giving her a bad mood. They suddenly faltered in their activity, feeling the dangerous pair of amethyst eyes bore into their souls, and the girls slowly but surely went to their seats, muttering under their breaths. Mikan felt the air chill around them, and she shivered.

It was amazing how much one glance could affect a whole class. Once again, gulping, the brunette thanked the Lord that she was on Horatu's good side.

"What happened here…?"

Mikan's head snapped up, and her eyes met up with sky-blue ones. "Ah, Ruka-pyon! Natusume!" she greeted them cheerfully, as usual, with a wide smile on her face. "Good morning!"

"Mikan found an abandoned kitten," Hotaru stated with venom clear in her voice, and that was the only few words she had spoken that entire conversation. Ruka's eyes widened at the bundle of fur that now sat on Mikan's desk. Natsume, who was just behind Ruka, rose an eyebrow.

With a few encouraging pokes from the brunette, the kitten finally woke up and stretched for a bit, then staring at the two newcomers with critical eyes. Ruka shifted under his weight, feeling his stomach flip in uneasiness from it's gaze. If that wasn't enough, the kitten's fur was black – a critical sign of bad luck. Ruka wasn't actually superstitious, but he still considered this one factor as to why he felt so uneasy around this new presence.

"You're taking care of this thing, Polka dots?" Natsume muttered loud enough for the group to hear, and he leaned and stared down at the kitten with similar critical eyes. The kitten stared back in return, before snarling at him. He frowned at it. "It has an attitude," he decided.

Mikan snorted before she could stop herself. How ironic. "Speak for yourself," she grumbled, glaring at him for calling him that ridiculous nickname again.

"It's just grumpy because your annoying voice woke him up!" she continued with a confident voice, proud of her comeback.

Natsume narrowed his eyes at her. "Tsk."

Ruka jumped in before another one of their classic arguments began. "H-Hey, Sakura," he hurriedly began, swallowing. "You have a name for him yet?"

Mikan blinked and paused, her scowl dispersing from her face. Huh. That's a good point… She was so stressed on the material things she needed to take care of a cat that she actually forgot to think of a name.

"No, not yet," she admitted. "Maybe you guys can help me with that!"

Ruka smiled, glad to be able to help. Natsume, however, went over and sat himself down at his seat, which was unfortunately right beside Mikan. You can curse their ridiculously flamboyant homeroom teacher, Mr. Narumi, for that. "No one cares about some stupid cat's name, Idiot," he stated flatly with a roll of his eyes, and then setting a copy of a manga on his face.

Mikan gaped at him angrily. Ruka chuckled awkwardly. "He… doesn't mean that."

"Like hell he does," she muttered, her eyebrow twitching with her fists clenched. From underneath the manga, Natsume smirked.

Over the past years since elementary, Mikan had tested her patience with Natsume's constant teasing and insults. She frowned deeply at how long they've known each other. Now that she thought of it, she couldn't believe she's managed to tolerate so much of that.

" _Hotaru!"_

 _A 10-year-old Mikan ran through the corridors of her school happily, her pink penguin backpack bouncing behind her and her wide, hazel eyes twinkling with fresh excitement. Just moving in from this prestigious school called Alice Acadmey, she's managed to pass the entrance exam with flying colors._

 _How? Well, young Mikan wasn't entirely sure herself, but she didn't dare complain. The entire reason she joined this school anyway was just an empty corridor ahead of her. But before she could open her mouth to call her again, she managed to bump into someone._

 _Painfully._

" _Oww…" she complained, rubbing her head painfully. Her head had managed to collide with another student. With this realization, she glared and pouted at whoever was in front of her._

" _Hey, that hurt!"_

" _You're talking like you're the only one," the other student scowled at her. Looking properly at him, Mikan couldn't help but kind of stiffen. He had raven hair, and crimson eyes that glared at me through annoyed slits._

 _She frowned deeply at his remark. He isn't going to apologize?_

" _Natsume!" another voice called from behind her. Curiously, she looked back at where the voice was coming from, and saw a male student running towards them. Blonde hair like the sun and deeply worried blue eyes. Mikan couldn't help but gawk, the sight so new to her. He was so pretty! Like a girl!_

 _Before she knew it, Natsume (she guessed his name, from the earlier voiced) stood up, brushing himself off casually, before glowering down at her. Still stunned by the color of his eyes, she just sat there and stared back, a bit afraid of what he was going to do._

" _Watch yourself, Polka dots," he said, frowning at her. And with that, he just walked off, towards to where she assumed Blondie was._

 _Mikan still sat there, stunned. And with that, she knew that her experiences from this school would be a new one._

 _Wait._

… _Polka dots?_

" _Is she alright?" Ruka muttered to his friend as they walked towards their rooms. "That was a pretty bad bump on her head, you know."_

" _PEEEEEEEERRRRRRVERRRRTT…!"_

 _Natsume almost felt the corner of his lips twitch upwards. "Let's go."_

Ever since that faithful day, the gang had plenty of encounters from each other, 90% percent of them being Natsume's perverted teasing and Mikan's angered yelling from the perverted teasing. They had immature spats as well, that mainly just consisted of ridiculous name calling. Of course, other than that, they met other friends, like Sumire, or Permy, as Mikan had fondly called her since the first day they met, and adorable Yuu and the humorous Koko, and plenty others, as well.

How she would manage to pass her classes without Hotaru and Ruka-pyon's help, she couldn't think of. She had thought of convincing Natsume to help her with it as well, one night when she approached his room, but the door slamming on her face was an enough answer as it was to her.

The more time passed, however, the more Mikan's managed to control her rage to Natsume. She realized one day that she was fast-approaching being a teenager and she needed to experience it to the fullest, and she would not let some sly fox to ruin it. She couldn't help but admit that she was slowly growing to be slightly fond of him, as they had their rare civil conversations here and there.

 _Three years has passed since then…_ Mikan suddenly thought this, stunned. She placed her torso on her desk and stretched her arms in front of her dazedly, continuing with her deep daydreaming as the class waited for their homeroom teacher to come. Unknown to her, the new kitten was fondly rubbing his head against her arm, which did not go unnoticed to the two boys beside her.

Ruka watched the kitten with a small smile, knowing this was one of cats' ways to show affection. He was glad to know that it liked Mikan that much, at least. When his eyes managed to flicker towards Natsume, however, he couldn't help but feel shocked by the plain irritation that was clear on his face.

"Natsume…?" Ruka muttered, glancing towards his best friend worriedly. He simply grunted and crossed his arms in front of him, but not before balancing a manga on his face to let himself sleep. He never did pay attention to his classes, anyway.

Ruka stared at Natsume with uncertainty, wondering what caused such an expression from him. Hotaru, who was two seats in front of Ruka, rolled her eyes at the attitude as she continued working on her invention, having a slight idea on why.

Luckily, the morning bell had rang.

* * *

Hello, everybody! This is my first fanfiction published on this website, so please do bear with me through it. I'm also awful at updating stories at right times, which is something you'll unfortunately have to bear with, as well... Whoops, sorry.

Aside from that, I hope you enjoy this! And if you won't mind, please do review and tell me what you think of it so far, it keeps my writing reflexes on my toes and tells me on what to watch on.

\- V.


	2. Chapter Two: Disaster Strikes

**2.**

The rest of the day was ordinary.

Hah.

That was a lie. Could you tell?

Truth be told, the entire day was a weird spontaneous mess for the time she blew on her sixth birthday cake so hard that it actually blew back and landed on most of her classmates. Or that time she was running in the rain when she was nine years old and tripped, aaand then landed on a mud started when the moment their homeroom teacher, Mr. Narumi saw her kitten, he squealed so much that the entire class jumped and wondered if his gender really is what it says.

"Oh, my gosh, what a cutie!" Mr. Narumi squealed out more, close to bursting Mikan's eardrums, and he swiftly picked the small animal up with his hands, positively beaming like a mother who's just given birth to her child.

Unfortunately, the cat did not like this one bit. He snarled and in instant came contact with the blonde man's face.

The rest of the first class was a free period, for obvious reasons. The amount of times Mikan apologized to her homeroom teacher was impossible to count, as Hotaru apparently had tried to herself. At the end, Mikan managed to nail herself her first detention. Great.

"Well," Ruka began, amusement lacing his voice. "That was a sight to see."

Mikan grimaced, the kitten asleep on her lap. "Don't even start. I'm going to have detention today because of this cat." She looked down at it, planning on giving it a glare, but her eyes only melted at the adorable sight. "But dammit, I can't stay mad at it."

Natsume frowned deeply at her change of attitude. "Where did you even find that thing?"

"At some alleyway on my way home," she explained, proud of her achievement. Her friends sweatdropped when they saw that she didn't realize how ominous that sounded. How oblivious can this girl get?

"And you're sure that it isn't already owned by someone else?" Hotaru asked. For some reason, however, her mouth was covered by a medical mask, borrowed from the school's clinic. Mikan stared at her best friend with wide eyes because of this but didn't dare comment on it.

"Uhm…" She frowned. "No, I'm sure. When did you get that mask?"

"Just now." Hotaru simply shrugged. "That damn cat has been given me the urge to sneeze for this whole damn time and I need a well-deserved break."

Ruka stared at Hotaru as well, his mouth agape. "Wow, that's the first time I've seen you share a weakness to us, and it's cats."

She glared at him, and he visibly shrank back.

"I think I'll call him Luna," Mikan suddenly announced out of the blue, petting her black kitten. Ruka looked at her curiously.

"Like the cat from Sailor Moon?" came the voice of Natsume, which Mikan did not expect. Ruka stifled a laugh by this.

"You watch Sailor Moon?" Mikan asked her seatmate, visibly shocked. Natsume blinked, then scowled, a light blush appearing on his cheeks that quickly disappeared. He shouldn't have said that…

Ruka was finding it harder to stifle his laughter. "Yeah," he explained for him, snickering. "He did ages ago, before we came to this academy. It was his guilty pleasure."

Hotaru's eyes twinkled with amusement. "Ah, of course. Who knew that the academy's Black Cat would have watched Sailor Moon?"

Mikan was ecstatic. "Awhhh," she gushed at Natsume, pouting cutely at him. Natsume's scowl went deeper. "Come on, guys, give him a break. Look at him, he's all shy now! I feel kinda bad for him now."

"Shut up, Polka," he grunted. "I only read the manga." That was the wrong thing to say.

Mikan could've jumped out of her chair. Instead, she squealed. "That's so cute! Oh, my gosh, _of course_ you would've read the manga instead of the anime."

His glare deepened, looking ready to murder her. Mikan felt herself shrink. "Uhm, hehe, nevermind…" she stuttered. Desperate to find a topic changer, she sat on her chair squirming in silence.

"H-Hey, uh, after detention, do you guys want to visit my house for a while and take care of Luna?" Mikan suddenly asked, looking sheepish to request it.

Natsume raised an eyebrow at him, still scowling. "And why would we do that?"

"Because I have to pick up Youichi from the daycare!" Mikan argued, frowning at his attitude. It was a genuine request, actually, which she first originally planned on asking later.

"Come on, just this once? Please?"

Ruka smiled gently at her. "I'd love to, Mikan," he told her, which she beamed back at. At least Ruka-pyon is nice and understanding enough!

Hotaru rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning back on her chair, facing them. "You'd have to pay me, as usual. But why _all of us_?"

Mikan took a while to respond. "Hehe, uhm…" she mumbled, twiddling with her thumbs. "Just trust me, okay? This cat is a three-man job."

Suddenly, Ruka isn't so sure if he should agree to this. But something told him that he couldn't back out.

Natsume placed his manga back on his face and leaned back. His answer was simple, and he had all the reasons to. "No."

"Why not?" Mikan whined. "It'll be an energizing experience!" At least, that's what her mother told her. "It's fun, really. You even have to privilege to look at and use anything at my house."

This spiked his interest. "Hah. Anything?" Hotaru and Ruka eyed Natsume curiously, wondering what he was planning this time.

Mikan suddenly grew nervous. "Uhm… Maybe not anything..." She laughed nervously, her ground wavering. She had her own secrets after all, believe it or not. "Not my room, of course. I'll lock it. But that's it."

He picked up his manga slightly and eyed the girl beside him carefully. Mikan bit her lip under his gaze, feeling self-conscious. Maybe she shouldn't have asked him… "Well?" she demanded.

"You have to pay me 500 yen."

Mikan gaped at him silently. "Oh, yeah," Hotaru jumped in the conversation. "Me, too. It's necessary. Nogi as well, right?"

Ruka blinked. "Uhm, no, not reall—"

Hotaru gave him a look. Ruka felt chills go through his whole body. "O-Oh, uhm, yeah!" he stuttered out. He had no idea what Hotaru was planning. "Yeah, I need some of that."

Mikan gaped even further. 500 times 3… She sat on her chair silently, thinking this through. A few seconds passed. Her friends looked at her expectantly. Natsume internally glowered, trying to figure out why this stupid cat had caught so much of her attention.

Finally, she took a deep breath. "Alright, deal. But I'll give it to you guys tomorrow."

Hotaru stuck her hand out and shook Mikan's hand. "Nice doing business with you, Ms. Sakura." This was an amusing habit she had formed since last year, figuring that she would need to learn to be formal with negotiations such as this one.

Mikan bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing. "Yeah. Nice doing business with you, too, Ms. Imai."

A few minutes passed until the next class, and nothing happened in particular until gym.

The girls were changing in their gym locker room. Some of them were chatting, waiting for their friends to finish, while most were in front of their lockers, changing their uniforms to their gym clothes.

Mikan was chatting happily to Anna and Nonoko as she put her white t-shirt on when she heard a familiar shriek coming from the door, causing most of the girls in the room to jump. She blinked, and the other two girls looked at where the sound came from.

Anna's eyes widened. "Mikan," she exclaimed, catching the brunette's attention. "It's your cat!"

Before Mikan could react, however, Natsume suddenly came in the room and swept the cat to his arms. "Gotcha," he muttered, glowering at the kitten who was struggling to get free with his arms. Apparently, he was not aware by his situation yet.

"You're not running away this time, you piece of—"

Before he could continue and before Mikan could yell at him for cursing her cat, shrieks and squeals erupted around the room, piercing the flabbergasted Mikan's ears. Nonoko, who was almost half-naked, was one of them. At the other side of the room, she could see Sumire jumping up and down in glee, already dressed.

Natsume snapped his head up in shock, and Mikan could see his eyes widen in shock as realization dawned upon him. In front of her, she could see Hotaru take a photo of his expression, her camera snapping away. She understood. This was a rare moment where he would actually show emotion other than anger or pride.

"NATSUMEEE!" another squeal came from the other side of the room, so loud that Mikan could hear it through all the noise, and then she immediately knew it was Sumire. "Oh, my gosh, you SLY dog! You came to peek on me, weren't you? Weren't you?!"

Natsume glared at her, then to the whole room, before running back out, Luna still in his hands. Eventually, the squeals toned down, to Mikan's relief.

Mikan turned to her friends in panic. "What was that about?" she asked them, her eyes wide. She silently thanked herself for already being clothed before he came in.

"Your cat came in and he had to get it, stupid," Hotaru suddenly stated, walking towards them. She had a small satisfied smirk on her face, however, and she waved the camera on her hands. "I did get some great pictures, though, so I'd have to thank you. These will sell a lot."

Mikan smiled, and forced a laugh. Anna and Nonoko could only sweatdrop, still not very comfortable with the raven haired money-lover's selling tactics.

"Well, that was an experience," Nonoko muttered, and Anna nodded in agreement.

"He wasn't embarrassed at all, though, did you notice?" Anna continued, frowning. "You'd think a normal guy who stumbled into the girls' locker room would be embarrassed to death. But he was just annoyed, like it was just a mild inconvenience."

"Yeah, but Natsume's not normal," Mikan added, rolling her eyes with an amused smile.

Hotaru snorted, and nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised if that actually happened to him before," she muttered, which Mikan wholeheartedly agreed on.

Nonoko shook her head, a smile on her face. Anna laughed.

"We're the last in this room, guys. Let's get going before couch gets angry at us," Anna reminded the group, and they all together left to the gym.

When they reached their class, the first thing they noticed was Sumire's loud bragging.

"He came in to the locker room, just to see me!" she told her audience, which gasped in return. Mikan pushed back the urge to scoff at her blatant lying.

"You're so lucky, Sumire!"

"I'd pay so much money so that he could peek on me!"

"I bet all the other girls were sooo jealous as well!"

A whistle interrupted their chatting. "Alright, quiet down, girls," their couch grunted out. Beside him, to Mikan's surprise, was a glowering Natsume, glaring at the whole crowd. The past experience obviously had set him to a bad mood.

Waving Anna and Nonoko off, she quickly approached Ruka, who had Luna in his arms, looking worried. "What happened?" she asked him in a hushed voice.

"Natsume snuck in the girls' locker room to get Luna, and he got detention," he answered back to her. Mikan looked at him in surprise.

"Surprised to know that it wasn't anything worse than that," Hotaru muttered under her breath, only letting Mikan hear. She silently agreed with her.

"Wait." Mikan frowned. "Don't I have detention as—"

"Guys on the left, ladies on the right," their couch suddenly instructed them, cutting her out before she could continue. "We're gonna do some warm-ups now, and then we're gonna run on around the court later."

Mikan could hear some groans from around her.

She was quiet the rest of the period, only complaining about her weak body, which Natsume would answer with a snappy retort. She was too busy marveling about her previous question. She even had a dazed expression when she started doing jogging warm-ups.

 _Didn't she had detention that day as well?_

/

As soon as the classroom door opened, crimson and hazel connected.

Mikan blinked. "Oh, yeah, you have detention as well! I forgot about that..."

Natsume gave her a blank look, already bored by the conversation. "Whatever, Polka."

She frowned and sighed at his attitude, but brushed it off and sat beside him. Natsume gave her look, obviously annoyed by this action.

Mikan looked at him, sensing him looking at her. "What?"

"Tch," he muttered, turning his head towards the window. "Nevermind, idiot."

She glared at him, but when he didn't turn to her this time, she leaned back on her chair and huffed.

A few minutes had passed now, and Mikan was seriously starting to get bored. She had no idea what to do during detention, this was her first one. Although she got in trouble easily, she was the principle's niece, which unfortunately gave her special privileges. Trying to look for something to do, she dug through her backpack, and fished out a spare notebook and a pen.

She quickly scribbled something on a page, the last conversation she had still itching on her mind. Satisfied with her work, she turned towards Natsume and poked his shoulder, then shoving the notebook to his direction.

"What, Polkdots?" he said, obviously annoyed. His eyes narrowed at what was written on the pink notebook. It was a lousy drawing of him clutching what seems like a pair of panties. He only managed to figure this out because of his name that was pointed towards the drawing. On the bottom was a label.

 _A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF A PERVERT_ , in all caps.

Furious, he snatched the notebook from her and snatched her pen, much to her dismay.

"Hey!" He ignored her, turning to the next page and writing something as well. "What the heck are you doing, you—"

He shoved the notebook back to her face as well. Mikan almost went cross-eyed, but then focused her attention to the page in front of her.

It was another drawing, which was admittedly much better than her own. It was obvious it was her, as well, with her wavy hair in a ponytail, as she always put it on since she was twelve. There was a label at the bottom as well.

 _OH, YEAH? WELL HERE'S A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF AN_ _IDIOT_ , was scribbled in all caps, with idiot being underline to emphasis this. Under it were more words. _AND WOW, YOU REALLY DO SUCK AT DRAWING._

Her jaw dropped at this, and she silently glowered at him. He was proud of his work, and his clearly smug expression showed it. Bastard.

Wanting to pay him back, she snatched her notebook from him, when a teacher suddenly came bolting into the room, a panicked expression on his face.

"FIRE!" he yelled out, causing every student in the room to jump awake. "THERE'S A FIRE!"

And to prove this, the fire alarm suddenly came off. Every student scrambled to their feet and ran out of the room, panicking and desperate to escape with their lives. Mikan swore at one point that one of the students in the same room with her groaned out, "Not again, God."

Mikan was the first one to leave the room since she was at the nearest chair to the door. When she came out, the corridors were chaos. Teachers were telling their students to calm down, while multiple students ran around desperately, finding their peers.

Squinting through the crowds, she felt her racing heart rise in relief when she managed to find Hotaru.

"Hotaru!" she called, and the raven-haired girl snapped her head towards her. It wasn't visible at first, but relief was clear across her amethyst eyes. "Oh, my gosh, I heard there's a—"

"Fire, I know," Hotaru completed the sentence for her as soon she was close enough, her face grim. "I saw it. We have to get out through the fire escape, come on."

Without letting her speak another word, she grabbed Mikan's wrist and dragged her towards her class. Everyone was panicking. Anna was crying. Mikan felt her heart pummel at the sight.

"Anna, are you alright?" Mikan blurted out. She could've slapped herself. Of course she wasn't alright, she was crying! Their homeroom teacher was already leading the class out. Anna couldn't speak. When she did, her voice would come out in chokes. "N-No… N-…"

"Tell me later," Mikan told her briefly, her voice gentle. Anna nodded in understanding, her body shaking and racked with her sobs.

Everything that happened in the next few minutes was a blur. Before Mikan knew it, she was outside of their school, the entire school population staying on the soccer field. Mikan's grip was tight around Hotaru's the whole time.

The next time Mikan saw Natsume that time, he was with Ruka, his face grim. "Hey!" she called, and she dragged Hotaru towards them, ignoring her classmate's multiple questions towards Mr. Narumi.

"Mikan! Hotaru!" Ruka called, relieved to see her alright. Hotaru raised an eyebrow at the chosen name he had called her, as he usually used her last name 'Imai' instead. "Hey, you guys okay?"

She nodded, but bit her lip. "Do you have any idea who started this?"

"...It was Nonoko," Hotaru admitted, her voice coming out in a shaky breath. Mikan and Ruka snapped towards her. "She was taking care of the cat, Luna, I think she forgot… Her experiment blew up. Next thing I knew, fire was everywhere." She let out a shaky breath.

"It was scary…" she admitted. Mikan's eyes softened, and she hugged her best friend tightly.

Hotaru let out a ghost of smile, and she patted her back. "I'm okay, Mikan."

"What happened to Nonoko?" Mikan asked as she pulled back, her eyes flooding with worry. "Is she alright?"

"I saw her," Natsume said, and Mikan looked at him. He nodded towards the ambulance that was in front of their school. Someone was being pulled into a stretcher, but Mikan managed to find a flash of black hair before it was pushed into the back of the ambulance.

Her mind was in a daze. "Was that—...?"

"That was Nonoko," Ruka confirmed, his voice a bit shaky. He swallowed. "She was the only one affected by the fire, I think." Luckily or not, he wasn't sure.

Mikan's eyes widened. "That's why… Anna was crying earlier."

"Poor girl," Hotaru breathed out, her expression stoic but her voice full of expression. "She was there, too." She looked at Anna, and Mikan followed her gaze. She was with the rest of her friends. She had stopped crying now, fortunately, but she was only nodding and shaking her head in response, refusing to open her mouth to speak. Her baby-blue eyes, which were usually filled with excitement, had dulled down dramatically. Mikan felt her heart ache seeing her in such a state.

"She's holding your cat right now, if you didn't notice," Hotaru further explained, back to her usual monotone voice. "When I talked to her earlier, she seems to have this idea that Nonoko's last dying wish was to take care of Luna, and she's determined to take care of it."

Mikan nodded, her mind in a daze.

The rest of the moment was a blur. The teacher had called their parents to pick them up from school. It wasn't until she saw her parents' car pull up in front of her school that she snapped out of her mindless state.

"Mikan!" It was her mother. "Mikan!" Her father.

When they came up to hug her, her mind was running wild. Her father… He was always a busy man, as the owner of a steadily growing business called Yukihira Corporations. So much, that he was almost never home. He got out of work just to see her?

A ball started forming in her throat, and she hugged her parents back. "Mom, daddy," she breathed out, her eyes tearing up. "I-I'm fine… I didn't get hurt."

"Oh, darling," her mother muttered, pulling back from her embrace to look at her daughter properly. Her light brown eyes that were so much like hers were blurred with tears. "I'm so glad you're okay. When I got a call from the school, I thought…"

"Mikan, oh, my gosh, darling," her father breathed out, leaning down and placing his hands on her shoulders to inspect her carefully. "Are you sure you're okay? You look so pale—"

"I'm fine," she insisted, and she forced out a smile. "Really."

As a habit, she turned to Hotaru, who was busy with her family as well. Her brother was being hugged tightly by Mrs. Imai, and Mr. Imai was busy chatting on the phone with an angry expression on his face.

Sensing her gaze, Hotaru looked back at her too. When their eyes connected, Mikan smiled. Hotaru smiled a ghost of a smile.

Without her noticing, her two parents immediately went off after checking on their only child, wanting to have a strict talk about the current matter with the teachers and staff.

Suddenly, Anna ran towards her, Luna in her arms. Mikan looked at her in surprise as the pink-haired girl struggled to catch her breath.

"Here," she breathed out, still panting, and she placed the cat in her arms. Mikan's eyes widened and she looked down at her cat. He was slightly singed, but still alright. He was hissing angrily, however, narrowing his gaze at everything that caught his eye. He was obviously startled by what just happened.

"Anna." Mikan's voice reached her before she could run off again. Mikan struggled with her words. "Uh. H-Hey, uhm…. I'm sorry, about—"

"It's fine," Anna answered with a sad smile.

"No, but Luna—"

"It isn't Luna's fault," Anna suddenly answered back, determination on her face. "I know better than to blame another person – or cat, I guess. It isn't Nonoko's fault, either. I-It just… happened. Okay?"

Mikan looked back at her friend with an awestruck expression. "A-Alright… Yeah," she breathed out. She suddenly felt a laugh slip from her lips. It was a tired laugh. "Today is so exhausting." Because of her cat. But she didn't dare say it. The phrase was floating around them enough.

"Uhm… I'm going to the hospital, b-by the way." Anna gripped Mikan's shoulder tightly. Her voice was wobbling slightly, a result from her previous crying. "I-I already asked the others, and they'll b-be coming with me. Wanna join?"

Mikan didn't hesitate. She nodded.

* * *

Well, that was kinda sad, wasn't it? :p Sorry folks. *shrug* Hey, black cats are bad luck, you know. As always, feel free to review! Here's my responses to the reviews for the first chapter so far (this is something I'll be doing starting now, also on other stories as well):

 **Anilissa:** I'm glad you like how the story's going so far! I'm planning on going on at least until the end of the current school year, or maybe past that to their summer, so it'll be quite long. Or maybe not. Let's see about that.

 **Mikan26:** I'll be introducing more of the beloved characters further into the story, as you can see, so don't sweat. :) No OCs, too! Not that I dislike writing OCs, I have some of my own, but I'm very strict when it comes to fanfiction and OCs in one is something I don't ever excuse. As for Natsume and his feelings about the 'changes', it'll stay as constant as ever.

 **Nikinora96:** You'd think so, but that actually isn't the case, as I've already once seen a story that's very much like the basic plotline (Mikan finds a cat and Natsume is jealous of a cat haha wtf oh noes hilarity ensues xDD lol) I'm using. Mine is a bit more detailed and a lot more different however, with how the story flows.

 **Lexi1989:** You betcha' ass he is. ;) Natsume would get jealous of a single peanut butter and jelly sandwich if Mikan so ate one. 'I wish I was that sandwich... Wait, that would be making out, wouldn't it? Not that I would mind, but dang. I'm more perverted than I thought I am.' - Natsume Hyuuga, 20xx

 **Mimi:** A lot more. You'll see.


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